A Rare Behind Scenes View of My Blogging “Office”

My “blogging office” is a black leather Natuzzi sofa in our family room. I’ve sat here so much over the past 3+ years, the middle cushion got a bit squished! The view above the laptop screen captures everything I love about decorating with finds from our travels. It captures the style I often share on this blog. So I thought I’d share my “blogging office” view with you today. Here is what sits right in front of me:

There is a frame from Z Gallerie, with a picture of us at Hanumanalaya hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia near Angkor Wat. We were a little bit younger back then! And a red lacquerware box found in Thailand, sitting on a tray I recently found at Arastan in Bangalore, India. That gold key is the key to the India pied-à-terre’s main door. The pressed flower coasters are decades old, from India. They’re all sitting on an old crackled Chinese chest.

The sliver of rug in the background is a rug my husband picked up in India in the 90s. I think it’s a Bukhara style rug? This room is full of black and red and gold – drama!

The tray holds a collection of Burmese lacquerware boxes we found in an antique shop in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They’re supposed to be old, not newly-made like many sold there today. And I sure hope they are old! I thought this arrangement needed a little bling, so I added the little shiny Moroccan brass box found last week at Leon & Lulu in Clawson, Michigan. I love things with little finials!

In the background you see a Chinese burlwood cabinet we found in Baan Tawai, Thailand years ago, and had it shipped here. Even with shipping it cost far less than buying it retail here. (Well, of course retailers count their travel expenses and for us it was vacation so I don’t count those expenses as I would if I were buying things to re-sell.) And wedged between the cabinet and fireplace are cardboard boxes holding candle supplies, LOL! Forgot that’s there, I can’t see it from the sofa.

An overhead view:

Love this tall finial shape:

Z Gallerie used to have the best picture frames, but I haven’t seen these there lately:

And a nice big view of the outdoors too:

Finally, as a wrap-up, here’s a bigger picture view:

That cardboard race car is my boy cat’s scratching post. He’s such a cool cat, he leans on the race car’s hood, like a dude! So cute. He’s often sleeping there while I’m online. If you have a cat that needs a race car, here it is – it comes in lots of colors now.

The brick fireplace may make a big appearance here in the coming months. It’s a big dark hulking presence in this pretty small room. I’m planning to cover the fireplace with light tile with a bluestone hearth. And maybe a custom built wood mantel, but haven’t decided on that yet. We’ll see. Whenever I do blog about it, it will be from this spot on the sofa!